Quiet Flex Shaft Tool?

[jimgood]

I love building and restoring things but I hate unnecessary noise. I would really like to have a tool that runs off a quiet electric motor that has these properties:

• Enough speed and torque to run everything from deburring bits to small sanding discs (2" - 3").
• Flex shaft.
• Straight and right angle heads.
• 1/4" chuck?

I have a flex shaft die grinder but the motor is annoyingly loud. And it only takes those ****** little 1/8" Dremel-style bits so it's not good for larger areas. I use it more for trimming my dogs toe nails than anything else (he's deaf so the noise doesn't bother him).

I don't know what the properties are of a quiet electric motor but my table saw, bench grinders, drill presses and my 12" disc sander all run acceptably quiet. So I'm assuming there's something about larger electric motors that makes them run quieter.

I'd be willing to scrounge an electric motor from something else (maybe a garage-sale bench grinder or something) if there's a way to adapt a flex shaft to it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[jimgood]

Hmmm... I just found these guys: http://www.foredom.net/

They sell all kinds of individual pieces. The flex shafts and sheaths are pretty inexpensive but the heads are pricey.

 

[rlitman]

Even if the tool is silent, the grinding is going to be loud.

 

[nickelTwin]

I bought a used Foredom last year at a garage sale. I really like it. It'seems a lot more quite than the Dremel and has more torque and can handle larger bits.

I've seen them used over the years at garage sale every once in a while, but I didn'the buy one till last year. I wish I had gotten one soonerror now that I'very used one.

 

[Monte]

Suhner Rotomax

 

[txvwnut]

I've got a Foredom that I use for porting heads. It's really not any louder than a dentists drill.

 

[jimgood]

Even if the tool is silent, the grinding is going to be loud.

Ok, I'm not a complete idiot. But I'm comparing the noise of things like angle grinders and my current die grinder that are ridiculously loud before you even start grinding.

 

[jimgood]

Thanks for the recommendations on the other ones. Suhners are out of the question. They are priced like they're made of gold.

Is it reasonable or even possible to adapt the shafts to other electric motors? These guys want serious coin for just the motors. Would there be too much torque if I used a grinder motor or something?